Can BT brings its sports TV magic back to mobile phones? Telecoms giant unveils new package that combines landline and mobile services

The return of BT to the mobile phone market has been one of the most anticipated telecoms moves in recent times.

Since the former state monopoly signed a tie-up with EE, Britain’s largest mobile network, last year, the industry has talked of little else.

With its recent venture into sports broadcasting demonstrating that the company does not use half measures when trying to crack fresh markets, expectations were high.

New plan: BT One Phone combines all office landline and mobile calls into a single service, connected to each person's mobile phone

Only last month, chief executive Gavin Patterson said industry observers might ‘be surprised’ by the things BT would offer.

The move would end a decade-long absence from the market, after its 2001 sell-off of Cellnet – which was later rebranded O2.

So when the day arrived, when the company had assembled a host of interested parties in its iconic BT Tower, what did it have to unveil?

Yesterday it launched its business offerings, with the details of a full consumer offering to be announced later this year. The company (down 4.3p at 382.8p) has said its plans to offer the service to 900,000 small and medium-sized businesses is not just a trial run for its mass market drive.

Yesterday it announced BT One Phone – which combines all office landline and mobile calls into a single service, connected to each person’s mobile phone.

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The grand plan is to let businesses use their phones wherever they are. ‘Missed calls mean missed business,’ said Graham Sutherland, chief executive of BT Business.

The group will install its own mini-mobile masts in offices that sign up for the service, with the aim of making mobile calls at your desk as dependable and clear as using the landline. The masts have a 300m range and phones will work even in a lift or through thick walls.

Tie-up: BT last year signed a deal with mobile phone operator EE to use its network to provide mobile services

Whether you dial a landline, a mobile or an internal extension, the call will be directed to the individual employee’s mobile phone – so they can take the call and make the sale whether they are at their desk or off site on other business.

The plan hinges on technology that allows calls to travel through wireless internet, called WiFi, as well as conventional mobile networks.

BT has more than 5m wireless hotspots across the country, as well as a chunk of superfast 4G spectrum and more airwave capacity leased from EE.

BT’s plan, initially, is to target small businesses with between 20 and 250 employees. It test drove the products with nine small firms, including a sports hire group and a nationwide charity.

In a promotional video, one of the companies that tested the technology – a private hire taxi firm – said it had spent a lot of its time on the phone to customer support – probably not the ringing endorsement BT was hoping for.

The company has said its technology will be streamlined over two years.

Some observers were underwhelmed by the move, which did not come with the whistles and bells glitz of its high-profile launch into the sports market. Analysts had expected it to offer ultra-low prices for some services, in a bid to undercut rivals and win market share. But the company said its prices – which it did not unveil – would be in line with the rest of the market.

Analysts at Citi said the details of the announcement ‘will be a relief to its mobile competitors’. Its Simon Weeden said: ‘We regard the announcement as less threatening to the mobile competitors than we had expected at this stage.’

Mobile market: BT has ended a decade-long absence from the market, after its 2001 sell-off of Cellnet, which was later rebranded O2

BT was not making the most of the 4G spectrum it bought last year, he said, and instead is focusing on selling its remote call-handling technology ‘rather than pushing hard to gain mobile share as a priority in itself’.

This is particularly difficult for the company as ‘BT has always been clear that cross selling is key to its approach’.He also highlighted another interesting feature – that the offering bears a striking resemblance to a similar product offered by Vodafone, called One Net.

According to its own website, Vodafone’s service offers ‘the UK’s only cloud-based communication service that delivers all your fixed phone and mobile communications through a single platform’.

Matthew Riley, chief executive of FTSE 250 firm Daisy, which re-sells telecoms and mobile services to small businesses, said the move looked ‘rushed’.

‘I’m not entirely sure how effective it’s going to be,’ he told the Mail.

‘We’ve heard they are offering 50 per cent discounts to small businesses, but if they are paying for a network with EE I just can’t see the cost saving working.

‘It will lead to them having to raise prices steeply in the future.’

He added: ‘They are picking a very big fight with Vodafone, so good luck to them.

‘They would have been better buying [smaller rival] Three and having a proper network of their own if they are serious about this.’

Other rivals in the industry had been watching cautiously to see what the group would do. Some had said it would be a game-changing move.

But yesterday, one leading industry executive said: ‘If I was a business customer today I wouldn’t actually know what I was paying for. It just seems to be a lot of words.’

When offering the service to consumers, the group is likely to encourage customers to take all four services – mobile, home phone, TV and internet – from the company in a bundle known as ‘quad play’.